The Issues, Interests Behind The ND High Ed Crisis

North Dakota looks poised for a big fight over higher education. Governing the state’s colleges and universities has bedeviled the state since the beginning, and there have been several crises. The current situation seems heading in that direction.

Here’s a brief tutorial about the issues and the interests in play.

First, how is higher education to be governed? Who hires its leadership and to whom does it report? Who provides the funding? Who decides how it is used?

These are important questions, and the answers are as urgent as they are uncertain. They involve public colleges, funded by tax dollars and educating the state’s young people.